The evidence that sealed Mrs. Surratt's fate

[Linda Anderson]

(05-06-2013 03:04 PM)Laurie Verge Wrote:  Betty,

I think I'm losing it, but did Anna Surratt really visit Powell in his cell as stated somewhere in this thread previously? I know that Frs. Wiget and Walter and layman Brophy visited him the night before the execution, but I had never heard that Anna was with them until I read it in Assassin's Accomplice. However, Kate gives no citation for that statement.

Maybe Kate means that Payne could hear Anna weeping in her mother's cell.

"After two days of listening to a hysterical Anna sobbing and pleading for her mother's life, one can imagine how Payne may have wanted to ease her pain and suffering, regardless of Mary's guilt."

The following is from the Evening Union, Washington, D.C., July 13, 1865

"THE CONFESSION OF LEWIS T. PAYNE - IT IS ENDORSED BY THE COMMANDING GENERAL, WHO BELIEVES MRS. SURRATT INNOCENT

"On Thursday afternoon, July 6th, Rev. B. F. Wigit, Rev. J. D. Walter, Mr. John P. Brophy, and Miss Anna E. Surratt received permission to visit Mrs. Mary E. Surratt, at her cell in the penitentiary. Mr. Brophy, remembering that Payne had declared Mrs. Surratt's innocence all through the trial, urged Father Wigit and Father Walter to visit Payne and ask him whether she were guilty or not. They did visit Payne, by permission, and he told them openly that she was an innocent woman."

It doesn't sound like Anna was with them plus she wouldn't have been likely to receive permission to visit Payne anyway.